


What Love Is

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Dollhouse
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-24
Updated: 2011-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-28 01:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/302045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Topher likes talking to dolls - he can work out what needs to be said without a judging audience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Love Is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jessalae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessalae/gifts).



"Do you know what love is?" Topher asked the doll lying in the chair. She had almond shaped brown eyes, straight black hair and the vacant smile that all dolls had before they were imprinted. She shook her head, and Topher merely gave her an expansive grin.

"What is love?" the doll asked him.

Topher laughed and got the wedge he had so carefully prepared. "It all depends on who you're with, isn't it?" He sat down beside the doll, giving her a wistful smile. "My ideal woman is brilliant enough to give me a run for my money. She's beautiful, of course, but that's not even the most important part of it. Nah," Topher told her, shaking his head. "Brains are where it's really at. I'm smart, but there's no challenge with most people. There's something missing if you can't stand toe to toe with someone and maybe lose a round here or there. You need to work for what you get, need to earn that grin that tells you how special you are. She'll know video games and comics and all sorts of stuff with computer engineering and psychology, physics and metaphysics. I want _discussion,_ to figure out what the soul is, is it born of memory or imagination, is it something we can create?"

"Creating things is fun," the doll replied with her childlike smile.

Instead of his usual condescending smile, Topher touched her cheek gently. "Yes, it is. There's magic in that, you know. Most people don't realize it. Art is magic and wonder, and sometimes taking it apart kills the romance." He lifted the wedge in his hand. "This is important. It's a lifetime, this imprint. It's memories and skills and personality traits, and it's an art form to put it all together. She'd appreciate that, this perfect woman. There's love in creation, you know. You can't help but something of yourself into it, build up something you think is perfect and wonderful."

There was a far-off and wistful expression on Topher's face. "She doesn't like me, not like that. She doesn't know what I think of her, how much I do appreciate her. I don't tell her, of courrse," Topher told the doll as he put the wedge into the appropriate slot.

"Why not?" the doll asked, looking at him curiously.

"Because she's better than me," Topher told the doll quietly. He rolled his chair around to look at her with that same soft smile. "I told you, she's brilliant. She knows everything that I know, and we discuss things, and I'm constantly being challenged. I keep wanting to be a better man, but I can't tell her that. So I crack jokes and make her annoyed and roll her eyes at me. I make her fetch things for me so I can watch her leave, get things out of reach so I can watch her lean over..." Topher laughed. "I'm still a guy, you know. But I can't..." The wistful look was back. "I can't let her know how much she means to me. Because in a place like this, knowledge is power. I don't have a lot of it, and she has even less. But she's still perfect, still better than me. I have to keep it that way," he told her softly, rolling to the head of the chair. "It's the only way I can protect her."

"That's so sad," the doll told him. She impulsively reached up and touched his knee. "I like you."

Topher gave her a grin that lit up his entire face. "Yeah. You do. You tell me so every time we have this conversation."

"I do?"

"Yes, you do. It's okay if you don't remember. You won't remember this either."

"I won't?"

"Nope." Topher set up everything on the controls and smiled fondly at the doll. "Ready?"

"Will I sleep?" the doll asked, her innocent eyes looking up at him in perfect trust.

"For a little while," he murmured, fond smile on his face. "But first, it's time for your treatment."

He went through the sequence with her, looking down at the controls fiercely. When it was complete, he looked up. She was climbing out of the chair with an imperious air and twisting her loose hair into a ponytail with the bands left behind on the desk. She grabbed the white lab coat and put it on before looking over at Topher. "So? Was there something else you wanted me to get you? Twinkies? Ho hos?"

Topher couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, Ivy. How about we share a pepperoni pizza?"

She rolled her eyes at him and slipped a barette into her hair. "Whatever. I'll go get it from the kitchen, Your Highness."

With a content sigh, Topher watched Ivy head out of the room. They had work to do.

The End


End file.
